Exclusive Article for EMRIndustry.com by Ronald Vatalaro
At a doctor’s office, patients are sometimes stuck living in the days of outdated office procedures that were implemented when house calls were still in fashion. But those days may soon be gone.
Soon patients will no longer have to tolerate dusty file folders jammed with lab reports and nurses notes. Healthcare data is being moved out of the filing cabinet and into the hands – and hard drives – of medical professionals and patients.
Improved Communication
One of the advantages of EHRs is the improved communication between medical staff and the patient. For instance, lab results or other information can be sent to a patient via email along with instructions for personal care, and the patient can reciprocate with any important questions or comments.
EHR can also improve communication between physicians. If one doctor refers a patient to a specialist, the specialist can view a patient’s chart immediately, and the doctors can formulate a treatment plan in real time. Also, in an emergency any doctor can quickly learn a patient’s conditions, allergies and healthcare treatments, if any, in order to provide the safest care possible.
As long as proper authorization credentials are specified, EHR information will be available to the patient and doctor whenever and wherever it is needed.
Error and Replication Mitigation
EHRs will ensure there are no more medication or procedural errors caused by undistinguishable handwriting on handwritten notes and prescriptions. Pharmacists can confirm with a doctor that they are delivering the proper dosage of prescribed drugs electronically. Doctors and pharmacists can be warned electronically when harmful drugs could be interacting or a possible incorrect medication or dosage is being prescribed. Duplication of services are also avoided when all providers can see at a glance all of the previous tests that have been completed.
Patient Empowerment
One of the changes that may impact patients the most is their ability to improve their heath by working with their entire healthcare team to improve quality. With EHR, patients can have stewardship over their own information.
Even as a patient sits in an examining gown on an examination table, many times they have no idea what a doctor is jotting down on their record. Charts are treated as if they are classified documents and patients feel that the doctors own the power differential in their healthcare.
On the other hand, some doctors are encouraging their patients to digitally take their power back by examining records on their personal EHR. These doctors are hoping that since this information is readily available that patients will be motivated to study and “own” their health profile. In a 2011 study in the Annals of Internal Medicine, 90% of patients thought they would be more in control of their care if they had access to their healthcare notes.
Much of a patient’s healthcare does not occur in a doctor’s office or hospital. Doctors in the study observed that people go to the doctor every so often, but they are making decisions every day that affect their health in one way or another. Cancer patients in the study said having access to their EHR helped them absorb complete information about their treatment. They also liked being able to follow results from their own lab tests.
An expectant mother in the study was told by her doctor that she had a suspicious mole that needed to be checked by a dermatologist. With the excitement of her pregnancy, she forgot to get it examined. A time after she delivered her baby, she was examining her EHR and was reminded to get her mole assessed.
Currently, employment within healthcare facilities for electronic medical record keeping is at an all-time high as most facilities are in the midst of hiring to fulfill this need. The highest level of education is a master’s degree in health informatics and is required for department management and director positions. Typically, it is a department manager or director who conveys information to patients as it pertains to their electronic medical record or changes to record keeping systems.
Ron Vatalaro works at Bisk Education and writes about health informatics. Ron holds an advanced degree in Business Administration.
